Thinking to Believe

Vice President Biden says abortion is always wrong, but he won’t impose his views on others. Mr. Biden, are there any other human beings believe it’s wrong to kill, but won’t impose that view on others?  How about newborns?  How about toddlers?  How about teenagers (some parents would like to kill a few)?  Why not allow others to kill newborns, toddlers, and teenagers?  Why do you feel the right to impose your view on others for these human beings, but not unborn humans?  Why are you discriminating against the unborn?

Compatibilists are those who believe that freedom and determinism are compatible with each other. On their view, one is free so long as they make actual choices. And they maintain that people do make actual choices: They choose what they desire. Of course, the problem comes when you ask where those desires come from. The desires are determined by God or physics. So what if physics or God determined for you to desire to kill your roommate? Then you will “choose” to kill your roommate.

In my estimation, this is not a very robust sense of freedom. Indeed, I would argue that it is not freedom at all. If desires cause actions, but the desires are determined by something other than the self, then the actions are determined as well, even if only in a secondary or intermediate sense. More could be said in the way of critique, but I have done so elsewhere.

For this post, I just want to pose a simple question to compatibilists: If our choices are caused by our desires, are our desires are determined by God/physics, then why is “choosing” so hard?  Why do we struggle with deliberation?  The only reason we experience deliberation is because we possess conflicting desires and we need to weigh them to decide which desire to act on.  If our desires are determined, does that mean God (or physics) determined for us to have conflicting desires?  If so, what would the purpose be other than to give us the false appearance of having libertarian free will?

Tongue-in-cheek, of course, but c’mon!  What’s next?  Polygamous Doritos that contain three flavors in a single bag?  I can see the ad: “They’re Doritogomous!”  Or perhaps Bisexual Doritos (Bi-ritos), where each chip contains two flavors?

It’s just amazing to me how brands like Oreos and Doritos are bending over backwards to promote the moral acceptance of homosexuality. Enough already. Let me eat my Doritos in peace. They are “food,” not propaganda.

It’s alarming to me how the freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment is being framed these days by government officials. It is being limited to the freedom to believe as you want privately, rather than the ability to practice your faith publicly. Case in point: same-sex marriage. A Christian business owner is free to believe that same-sex marriage is immoral, but they are not free to act on their convictions by denying a request to offer their services in support of a same-sex wedding. They can believe as they want, but they cannot act on those beliefs in a public manner.

This is wrong. The First Amendment guarantees us the right to believe and practice our religion without government interference.  The freedom of religion is not limited to the private sphere, but to public expression as well.  Indeed, religious freedom that doesn’t allow one to act as if their beliefs are actually true is not religious freedom at all.

If we allow the government to reinterpret the First Amendment as a right to private belief only, we will cease to have true religious freedom in this country. Freedom of religion means that one is free to believe as they want, and to act on those beliefs.

Medical history is going to be attempted in 2017 with the world’s first head transplant. Does anyone see any implications this might have for substance dualism?

Back in April, Frank Bruni wrote an opinion article for the New York Times on the Indiana religious freedom debacle. Bruni is very negative toward conservative Christians in his article.  In his opinion, conservative Christians can support homosexuality, but choose not to do so.  Instead, they cling to outdated interpretations of an outdated text. Bruni writes:

So our debate about religious freedom should include a conversation about freeing religions and religious people from prejudices that they needn’t cling to and can indeed jettison, much as they’ve jettisoned other aspects of their faith’s history, rightly bowing to the enlightenments of modernity.

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The University of Tennessee is inventing new gender neutral language for those who do not want to identify by the traditional gendered “he” and “she.” Instead of “he” and “she,” it’s ze and xe. Of course, these need object and pronoun forms as well.  Here’s the interpretive chart:

Insanity.

Kim Davis, a clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court of the United States created a right for same-sex couples to marry in all 50 states (and at this point refuses to issue any marriage licenses at all).  The reason?  It violates her conscience and Christian faith.  She was sued and lost.  A request for a stay on the decision was even sent to the U.S. Supreme Court and denied.  As an elected official, she can’t be fired.  But she can be impeached, fined, and even jailed for her refusal to carry out her state-mandated duties.

I must say that I am amazed Kim Davis is standing alone on this issue. Surely there are thousands of Christians employed across our nation to perform the same job as Kim Davis, and yet Kim Davis is the only person who has the courage to stand by her convictions.  Perhaps others quit in protest, but I imagine that most Christians just went along with the program.

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That’s the recommendation of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Conduct. In their opinion, judges should not be allowed to marry only opposite-sex couples or even forego marrying anyone in order to avoid marrying same-sex couples. Either marry same-sex couples or find a new job:

A judge’s oath to support the constitutions of the United States and the State of Ohio requires the judge to recognize and adhere to binding court interpretations of the same. A judge’s unilateral decision to refuse to perform same-sex marriages based on his or her own personal, religious, or moral beliefs ignores the holding in Obergefell and thus, directly contravenes the oath of office.

In other words, Christian judges who want to be faithful to their God and their conscience need not apply. Religious liberty and the freedom of conscience is not allowed as a judge. We are watching religious liberty and the freedom of conscience erode before our very eyes and yet few hear the alarm going off.  We said it would happen, and it’s happening left and right.  This is just the beginning.

Everyone on the left said that giving rights to gays and allowing same-sex marriage wouldn’t affect anyone. It was a lie. The effects have been immediate. Think of all the professions that Christians are being excised from by the threat of the law: judge, county clerk, florist, wedding photographer, wedding cake baker, wedding planner, adoption agency. The list will continue to grow. People outside of the law and wedding industry are already starting to lose their jobs simply for believing in natural marriage. I fear this trend will only grow in the coming years.

HT: The Blaze

The Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice had threatened Chaplain David Wells that if he does not sign a state-mandated document promising not to identify homosexuality as a sin, he will lose his chaplain credentials. He would not sign it, and thus lost his credentials after serving for 13 years.

Once again we see how the push for homosexual rights hasn’t affected anyone!

The state is being faithful to the gay rights agenda. The question is whether or not Christians will continue to be faithful to Christ or will buckle to Caesar. I congratulate David Wells for standing strong.